Arriving at the National Gallery of Victoria after a popular outing at the Venice Architecture Biennale, this installation brings together water, light, scent and sound to explore one of the great icons of the Australian experience: the pool.
NGV director Tony Ellwood says, "Whether natural or manmade, inland or coastal, pools are undeniably linked to the Australian lifestyle and our national psyche. ... as a place of cultural exchange, socialising, competition and reminiscence."
At the centre of the exhibition is an 11m pool that visitors are welcome to dangle their feet in or relax alongside. For each of the pool's eight 'lanes' there's a different audio track by a prominent Australian reflecting on their own connection to the theme: Olympic gold medal winners Ian Thorpe and Shane Gould, environmentalist Tim Flannery, designers Romance Was Born, writers Christos Tsiolkas and Anna Funder, curator Hetti Perkins, and musician Paul Kelly.
The Pool was originally commissioned for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale by the Australian Institute of Architects, and curated by Aileen Sage Architects (Isabelle Toland and Amelia Holliday) with Michelle Tabet.